Draws, Schedule of Play for Portland Invitational; Donaldson Collects First ATP Points in Venezuela; Davis Falls in Opening Round at New Braunfels $50K

The draws and schedule for the Portland Invitational, which I'll be covering beginning Friday, have been released.  This is the first multi-team event between college players and USTA juniors for women, and the format is the same as the men's Napa Valley event, with eight round robin groups that include one junior in each group. The eight winners will participate in a shootout Sunday afternoon with a Pro Circuit wild card on the line.  A few days ago I published the list of players involved, which can be found here.

For the players in each group, see this document.  For the schedule, see this document. The doubles draw is here.(Revised 10/31/12)

I try to follow as many of the US juniors playing Futures as I can, but often overlook those who are playing outside of North America.  Last week Jared Donaldson, who trains in Argentina, played his first Futures tournament, in Venezuela, and had an impressive debut. Donaldson, who turned 16 earlier this month, qualified at the $15,000 hard court tournament, then beat top seed and ATP No. 309 Maximiliano Estevez of Argentina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Donaldson also won his second round match, against fellow teen Franz Sydow of the Netherlands, a wild card, before losing in the quarterfinals to former Baylor standout Roberto Maytin.  This week, Donaldson is competing in another $15,000 Futures in Venezuela, where he again qualified (note that these Futures have qualifying draws of 16 or 32, not 128 as most Futures in the US have) and again won his first match. Donaldson beat 18-year-old Mateo Nicolas Martinez of Argentina, who is No. 10 in the current ITF Junior rankings, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(2) in the opening round.

Donaldson, who is from Rhode Island, has been training in Argentina for some time. For more on his "reverse commute," see the ITF Junior site, with Sandy Harwitt interviewing him during the Junior Davis Cup last month in Barcelona. Donaldson did not play singles in Barcelona, but it should be noted that both Noah Rubin and Stefan Kozlov, who did play singles, also have ATP points at ages 16 and 14. Rubin picked up a win today in the first round of the Pensacola Futures.

Qualifying was completed today at the $50,000 Pro Circuit women's event in New Braunfels, Texas, as were several first round matches. Lauren Albanese, Jelena Pandzic, Taylor Townsend and Sanaz Marand are the four qualifiers. Lauren Davis had beaten Shelby Rogers three straight times, including in the final of September's Las Vegas $50,000, the last match Davis played before today. But Rogers got some revenge today in the first round, beating No. 2 seed Davis 6-3, 6-3. Italy's Camila Giorgi, the No. 1 seed, begins play on Wednesday against Ashley Weinhold. Wild cards were given to Yasmin Schnack, Vicky Duval and Rosalia Alda.